TikTok should be at the top of any serious content marketing strategy in 2022. But no brand should go jumping in this pool doing what they’re doing on all the other channels. No way. You’ll make an almighty belly flop if you do.

TikTok is its own wonderful world with its own language, trends and random fun and games. And you need to partake in all of it to make it as a brand there. And why should you even try then if it’s such a fine art, you ask? Because your competitors will swallow the whole new generation of customers hanging out there if you don’t.

The brands below have experimented and come out of the TikTok lab with their own unique recipe that works (because all brands need to first experiment until they find their place on TikTok).

Being the TikTok pros that we are, we’ve picked their accounts apart and given you a few insights into what works for them. If you want more of those juicy tips, you’re going to have to contact us and ask us ever-so-nicely to be your new TikTok partner.

Duolingo

@duolingo if only there was a way to learn 🤪 #Duolingo #DuaLipa #comedy #trend #DulaPeep #parenttrap ♬ original sound – MD

Duo the owl is irresistible to all who have them pop up in their feed. Who the *beep* is Duo the owl you ask? Well, it’s the big green awkward owl mascot that’s earning the language learning platform Duolingo a whole lot of viral videos on TikTok.

The company has reported their owl’s virality has brought them a whole new audience, and a significant boost in brand awareness. Well, once you see a big green owl twerking on an office table who doesn’t want to know about the company creating such unhinged content.

Secret sauce recipe:

Duolingo’s TikTok account looks to entertain their audience, not sell to them.

By dressing up a member of their social media team in a big green owl suit that dances and participates along with TikTok trends (amongst other crazy sh**), the brand signals its understanding of one of the keys to TikToker’s hearts – make fun of yourself and be gloriously vulnerable like all of us humans are.

Also, the random, unhinged nature of their content is the lingua franca of TikTok.

Oh, and their performance in the comments is on fire.

Ryanair

@ryanair Too kind of you 😍✋ #airline #pleasestop ♬ Super Cell BoopayBeats Edit – BOOPAYBEKILLINEM

Ryanair is a company that people love to hate (no matter how much the same people love their 9.99€ flights).

However, the airline’s 1.5M+ TikTok followers translates to the company having access to a whole new generation of customers that are absolutely loving the brand and how it’s presenting itself on the channel.

Secret sauce recipe:

Whoever is heading up Ryanair’s TikTok account knows what they’re doing.
Not only do they produce and post more like a creator than a brand, they noticeably spend time in their comments sections to understand how their users position them in their minds. This is then used as inspiration for content ideas.

The account is also great at jumping on all the marvellously ridiculous TikTok trends yet somehow still manages to keep things on brand.

Oh, and personifying their planes with the eyes and mouth face builder effect is absolute TikTok genius.

willhaben

@willhaben Gary Vee hätte es gekauft 😂🤷🏽‍♂️ #willhaben #austria ♬ Originalton – willhaben

Austria’s online marketplace where one person buys some other person’s used stuff is doing a stellar job in representing itself on TikTok in an authentic and relatable way.

Secret sauce recipe:

willhaben is winning its way into people’s hearts on TikTok with post after post of RELATABLE skits that users of the marketplace would instantly get a giggle from.

Yes, we capitalised RELATABLE as if we were yelling it at you intentionally. Because that’s kind of important, ya’ know? Create for your audience, not for your brand. That’s a freebie bite of advice right there. And there’s more where that came from. 

Fender

@fender @Fletcher Milloy ♬ original sound – Fender

Fender was founded in 1946. Yep, that’s a long time ago and for a brand that old to adapt to a channel like TikTok, we have nothing but respect. Sure, it’s a well loved brand, but there’s plenty of well-loved brands that don’t deserve a place in this list of honorary TikTok brand legends.

Secret sauce recipe:

The first f*** fantastic Fender Tiktok (sorry all those F’s just came out) move we’d like to put into focus is their #myfirstfender user-generated content series. By simply inviting people to share their story with a Fender, they’re generating a wealth of sticky TikTok content that puts their products in the spotlight. F**** genius, Fender.

They also have a strong Edutainment game on their channel with tips and tricks on how to make the most out of their equipment.

Yes, this brand does come with its own army of diehard fans, however, they’re putting a lot of value out there for their audience on TikTok, and that’s what TikTok is all about.

A1esports

@a1esports eine Legende. #zocken #zocker #a1esports #amzocken #gamer ♬ Originalton – A1 eSports

It’s the largest eSports platform in Austria and it’s doing some damn fine gaming content on its TikTok channel.

Secret sauce recipe:

The A1esports TikTok team have put together the perfect recipe for a successful channel: simple content concepts with a talented face of the channel.

TikTok is a people-centric platform, so the people you choose to be representing your channel should be characters and know how to engage a camera, and the audience behind it.

The Washington Post

@washingtonpostTHE STATE OF THE WASHINGTON POST TIKTOK ACCOUNT♬ original sound – We are a newspaper.

Nobody – and we repeat – nobody does news like The Washington Post does news on TikTok.

It is truly a glorious thing what the newspaper is doing, smooshing together complex issues with skillfully simple content concepts. They have a whole new generation hooked on their news content like no other media outlet.

Secret sauce recipe:

The relationship between caption and video in The Washington Posts TikToks is inseparable. The caption contains the real life headline while the video gets to work explaining it in an always entertaining, most often funny, TikTok-native kind of way.

This is the best example of how complex ideas and issues can be broken down in an impactful way and packaged into the microcontent-sized videos of TikTok.

Oh, and most importantly – you need to do it in a way that the TikTok natives will recognise.